Maura Clare files lawsuit in U.S. District Court

By Mitchell Byars

Staff Writer

Posted:
01/25/2017 03:16:51 PM MST

Updated:
01/25/2017 10:03:29 PM MST

John Griffin, director of the Conference on World Affairs, leads the opening day procession through Norlin Quad on the University of Colorado's Boulder campus on April 4, 2016. (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)

Maura Clare (Courtesy photo)

A former employee of the University of Colorado's Conference on World Affairs sued the school in federal court this week, claiming she was fired in 2015 because of her age and gender — and in retaliation for her complaints about that alleged discrimination.

"For 15 years, plaintiff Maura Clare was employed as the director of public affairs and conference coordinator for the Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado," the complaint reads. "Clare's performance was exceptional. Defendant John Griffin, director of the CWA, forced Clare out of the CWA because of her age and sex and in retaliation for her complaints about his discrimination against her."

Ken McConnellogue, spokesman for the CU system, said the university was aware of the lawsuit.

"We don't think that her allegations reflect the situation," McConnellogue said. "We look forward to addressing that in court."

Clare did not return calls for comment.

'In the way'

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Clare worked for the conference from 1988 to 1993 and from 2000 to 2015, and was responsible for recruiting, training, managing and coordinating 80 to 100 volunteers, according to the complaint.

Former CWA Director James Palmer gave her an "outstanding" in her job reviews — the highest rating possible — and said she "far exceeded performance expectations" and that her work was "of exceptional quality," according to the complaint.

When Griffin took over in 2014 after Palmer resigned, Clare claims in the complaint that it was "immediately apparent that Griffin was biased against Clare."

According to the complaint, Griffin tried to offer Clare's duties to one of her assistants, Bryan New, who was in his 20s, but tried to keep the promotion a secret from Clare. New declined the promotion and reported it to Clare, who confronted Griffin but got no explanation.

Even after New reportedly told Griffin did not respect him, he was offered a raise while Clare was told funding for her position would be cut.

Clare said in the complaint that Griffin continued to diminish her role, and said that the CWA "needed to do a better job of replacing people as they get older." He also reportedly told a volunteer leader that "young men" needed to be given opportunities and that Clare was "in the way" of the changes that needed to be made.

She filed a formal complaint with the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance in November 2014, while New also filed a complaint with DiStefano that was passed on to the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance. But the complaint was not investigated, with the office claiming Clare had not suffered any "adverse consequences."

Retaliation

According to the lawsuit, when Griffin learned of Clare's complaint, he retaliated against her and implemented a plan to terminate her. He refused to speak to her and reportedly prepared a "false and unfair performance evaluation to be used for the purpose of justifying Clare's termination" that accused her of insubordination for her discrimination complaints.

According to the lawsuit, Griffin sent her the evaluation by email a month before the conference.

"Clare opened the email in front of several volunteers and broke down in tears when she read it," the lawsuit reads. "In the email, Griffin insisted that Clare read and sign the evaluation immediately, despite the fact that she was in an important all-day working session with volunteers."

During the conference, Clare said that Griffin and volunteer leader Bob Yates openly discussed her "insubordination" and spread the word around the conference that she would be terminated.

Clare said that due to stress that was "a direct result of Griffin's discrimination and retaliation," she took three months of medical leave in 2015. When her leave expired in July, she asked for an extension because her complaint was still being investigated, but her request was denied and she was terminated.

The lawsuit also claims that DiStefano and the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance refused to intervene or protect Clare from Griffin's retaliation.

"Defendants deprived plaintiff Clare of her constitutional protected rights, under color of state law, when they acted intentionally and recklessly to deny plaintiff Clare equal protection under the law because of her gender and age," the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit said that Clare was paid $75,000 annually after 15 years, and that her replacement — a younger male — was hired at $108,000.

According to the lawsuit, CU President Bruce Benson reportedly sees the conference as a "festival of liberals" and "detested the CWA so much that he refused to lead the opening march of the conference, introduce the keynote speaker and host the opening dinner, as other presidents had traditionally done."

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